Nuggets & NBA

Who fared better in trade of stars: Timberwolves or Nuggets?

The Nuggets traded away their star player, Carmelo Anthony to New York in 2011, while the Timberwolves just dealt their star forward, Kevin Love, to Cleveland. (John Leyba, The Denver Post; Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

"I am truly excited to welcome Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young to our team," Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said. "Adding these young players, along with our No. 1 pick from this year, Zach LaVine, to our existing squad gives us a solid nucleus for the future."

The Nuggets have been there. A lost superstar, a host of players in return, and a chesty declaration that no, it in fact was not the end but a new beginning.

And, secretly, a pit in their stomachs knowing they are anything but in total control.

These deals are never easy for the team losing the franchise player. The Nuggets are well-versed in that. Carmelo Anthony's trade to the New York Knicks in 2011 changed the course of everything the Nuggets were then known to be. And it will play out that way in Minnesota, as well, after its trade of prolific power forward Kevin Love to the Cavaliers.

But the similarities end there.

The Nuggets got younger with the trade, but not as young as the Timberwolves just did. Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov had all played pro ball extensively -- in the NBA or overseas -- before coming to Denver. Only Thaddeus Young has for the Timberwolves.

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Then Nuggets coach George Karl was innovative enough to not just make losing one of the league's most feared scorers (Anthony) and most respected leaders (Chauncey Billups) work anyway, but did so without hitting so much as a speed bump. They went 18-7 after the trade, and two seasons later - with a couple of roster tweaks - won 57 games, rising to third in the Western Conference.

Though Minnesota got the single best player (Wiggins) in comparison to the Nuggets' deal, it is in for much rockier times before things get better. It is highly doubtful that they finish with a winning record this season. It is highly doubtful that, as great as Wiggins may turn out to be, in two seasons Minnesota will win 57 games.

And on top of all of that, they are on the clock - again.

The current collective bargaining agreement, carefully crafted to help level the playing field between the haves and have-nots, assumed players were robots. It assumed that once the opportunity to make max money came along, players would automatically take it, thereby giving the small- or medium-market team the clear advantage in retaining them as free agents.

It's not turning out that way.

Minnesota will survive Wiggins' rookie-scale contract, which only makes the player a restricted free agent at its end. He'll then get max dollars. The second contract is the frightening one. That's the one Love used to force his way out of Minnesota. It's the one that expired and allowed LeBron James to go to Miami all those years ago. It's the one Anthony was on when he forced his way out of Denver.

The new "going home" phenomenon and the slightly older one of taking less money for fewer years to get more money later in a city they want to be still stack the decks against the Minnesotas and Denvers of the league. Even when players are woven into the fabric of their new community, and even if they like it there, they are starting to have no problem leaving it behind.

In 2006, after signing a five-year, $80 million deal, Anthony crowed: "This is where I want to be. The whole state has embraced me." Five years later, he'd give the Nuggets a directive to trade him or lose him for nothing in free agency.

Things can change that quickly.

Minnesota can only win if it figures out a solution to that issue, where it could not the first time with Love, and where the Nuggets couldn't with Anthony. Lessons learned from that can be applied to a better strategy for the future.

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